left meanes in it to end controversies of Religion with peace and unity of Catholick Faith 9 There cannot be a greater foppery then to thinke that God instituted his Church without possibility of obtaining the end or its institution The end of the Catholick Church is our salvation by one and the same supernaturall and undoubted Faith communicated by preaching and hearing Rom. 10. this one and undoubted Faith in this manner is impossible If there be not at least one infallible Pastour when there are no generall Councells who may by his definition declare what is Catholick Faith what heresy whensoever the Church is troubled with diversity of opinions it s as evident therefore that the Popes infallibility is not superfluous as it is cleare that God did not deprive his Church of meanes without which its impossible to compasse the end he aymed at in its institution If Profestants themselves judge it a most absurd and destructive Tenet in any Commonwealth See the late Kings answer to the Remonstrance of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament 26. May 1642. in answer to the businesse of Hull that a murtherer or felon cannot be apprehended condemned or punished by any other authority then that of Parliament even when it actually sits how much more absurd and destructive must they grant it would be in the Church that a murtherer of soules and an Heretick cannot be declared and condemned by any other authority or infallibility then that of a generall Councell not actually sitting nor likely to be assembled in a long time Doe they imagine that God would institute a Church more absurdly then themselves would order a Commonwealth As in all well ordered Commonwealths there must be meanes to suppresse sedition at any time before it comes to be rebellion so in the Church of God there must be meanes to condemne dangerous opinions and growing heresies before they come to spread and infect Christian soules If there be no infallible and visible Judge of controversies besides a generall Councell none will alter his opinion untill the generall Councell be gathered and then it will be too late to apply the remedy An exteriour acquiescence doth not change mēs opinions nor free their minds and thoughts from heretical errours none thinkes himselfe obliged to forsake his owne opinion for that of other men If theirs be noe more then probable Therefore some infallible authority there must bee at all times in the Church whereby men may bee obliged to condemne even their owne opinions and errours and none doth as much as pretend to it but the Roman Bishop 10 The infallibility of some visible Judge of Controversies alwayes at hand especially when generall Councells can not meete conveniently is soe agreable to evident reason and soe necessary for the unity of Faith and peace not onely of the Catholick Church but also of the Christian Commonwealth that the Protestants who were most against it are now most for it and wish that the Pope if hee bee not were as infallible as wee pretend If their wish bee rationall as without doubt it is wee are to presume that God the Author of reason was as rationall in this particular as they can wish And though it bee strange how they can imagine that God can bee unreasonable in any matter and in one that soe much concerned his Church yet they are convinced by wofull experience that our belief of the Popes infallibility is as beneficial to Catholicks as their obstinacy against it hath beene prejudiciall to Protestants who make Scripture the ground and warrant of all attempts and rebellions against their Soveraignes whereas wee submit our judgements to the ancient and setled interpretation of Gods Word and when that is not cleare we conforme our selves to the sentence of the Pope a very indifferent person and supreme Judge in matters of Christian Religion at least he is more unpartiall to Princes then their owne subjects interpreting Scripture by fancy interest or passion Why should wee Catholicks believe that the Bishop of Rome is infallible and Christs Vicar upon earth rather then hee of Constantinople or any other is as much as to demand why doe wee rather believe that Philip the 4. or Lewis the 14. are lawfull Kings of Spaine and France then other men that never could pretend right to those Kingdomes See the Protestants Apology for the Church of Rome tr 1. see 3. subd 10. see 7. subd 5. 9. tr 2 see ◠3 subd 10. There is not any man upon earth who can pretend right be bee infallible in determining controversies of Religion but the Bishop of Rome Hee hath a more constant and universal tradition for his spiritual jurisdiction and infallible authority then any King hath for his temporal superiority Why should wee deny to the Pope what all antiquity acknowledged and all men must grant if it bee not out of animosity against his person or obstinacy against his prerogative which wee ought not to measure by his personal merits but by Gods providence and the publike good and necessity of the Catholick Church If wee looke upon the greatnesse of the prerogative it s more probable that one man may deserve it better and bee more capable of it then every one of them who concurre to the infallible definition of a generall Councell neither ought it to seeme soe strange that God should bee pleased to make one Pope infallible in S Peters chaire if wee believe that every Bishop is infallible in a Councell who concurres to a definition when all Christendome is assembled together in an universal Synod Noe Catholick doth believe that the Pope is infallible in all his words and actions or as a particular Doctor but onely when he proposeth or speaketh any thing in Gods name and as his Interpreter to the Catholick Church CHAP. X. That the foundation of Iustice and forme of Iudicature is wholy destroyed by penall Lawes and oathes against any point of the Roman Catholick Religion 1 THe foundation of Justice and Judicature is evidence of lawfull witnesses against whose testimony the accused person can have no rationall exception As the judge must have evidence of witnesses for the sentence he pronounceth so must the witnesses have some evidence for the testimony they give There is a great difference betweene the evidence of witnesses required against persons accused for Religion and for other crimes Eye-witnesses have best evidence against malefactours apprehended for civill crimes but in matters of Faith and religion all goeth by heare-say Rom. 10. he is the best witnesse who relyes least upon his owne knowledge his best evidence is the testimony of others dead before he was borne and though their bodies lye rotten in graves their Faith and Doctrine must be fresh in the memory and testimony of the present Catholick Church and Christian posterity 2 As the Judge must have evidence for his sentence and the witnesse for his testimony so must the Legislatour
his Prince for not punishing or banishing his evill Councellours and these who looke more upon their owne preservation then the Prince his safety or honour engage him more and more in their quarell by perswading him that to Rebells nothing must be granted who at length get all by force with the ruine of their Soveraigne and his posterity All this you may see verified in the life of Edward the Second King of England 3 But in case the quite contrary way be taken and that the Subjects to comply with perverse inclinations and those who are in power strive who shall be most wicked from thence must greater danger arise to the Prince then from any other emulation or discontent Vertuous men are few and consequently the Prince may without great difficulty finde them employments but if vice be rewarded he will not finde in his Kingdome wherewith to content half the number of dishonest pretenders and to satisfie some few of them is to disgust all the rest who being men of as little honour as conscience will make use of their number and power to obtaine what they could not by favour and will clime up to the height of their ambition by force and wicked devices This is the reason why Princes ought to esteeme and reward vertue and discountenance vice and why none ought to be of his Councell whose integrity is not notorious to his Subjects for how can a Prince discountenance vice if his Favourits be vicious and dishonest persons Their ill example may be his ruine because all men who desire to be preferred will prostitute their consciences to the Favourits will and pleasure and neglect his Master and when the Favourit hath gained the greatest part of the Subjects to his owne devotion perhaps he will plot something against the Soveraignes person and promote to the royall Throne some of his owne relations A Prince cannot be too suspicious and jealous of dishonest Councellours the greatest tye of fidelity being conscience they who have none must prove disloyall whensoever it stands with their conveniency Therefore it s most dangerous and want of true Policy in Princes to trust themselves or their affaires in the hands of such men for though it be their interest this day to be faithfull to their King it may be the contrary to morrowe I am sure it can never be his interest to stick to them or owne their dishonest proceedings The interest of Kings lyeth in the affection of his Subjects and its impossible they should affect a King who not onely protects but ownes manifest injustices Subjects are men and as apt to resent and revenge injuries as the Soveraigne He must handle them very gently and not expose them to the contempt or tyranny of wicked Ministers for though they may have patience for a time at length they may growe furious and he will finde himselfe mistaken in their temper when it is too late to dismisse or punish those who occasioned their distempers 4 Amongst all Princes ruined by the wickednesse of Ministers none is more to be pittied then Edward the VI. of England because he could as little depose as choose his Counsellours being alwayes in his minority It is the opinion of most Writers that Dudley Duque of Northumberland after beheading Seamour the Protectour did poyson the King to the end his sonne Guilford who married the Lady Iane Gray might in her right be King and himselfe in the right and reigne of his sonne governe England excluding Queene Mary and the Queene of Scots I doe not thinke that any history can give testimony of more dishonest Counsellours in one time and in one Kingdome then we read of in this poore childs reigne Seamour himselfe violated his oath and promise given to Henry the VIII that no new Religion should be brought into England during the Kings minority Afterwards he caused his owne brother to be beheaded The Duque of Northumberland plotted the Kings death dissembled his Faith which at length upon the scaffold he professed dying a Roman Catholick and exhorting the Nation to sticke to that Religion But what I desire Princes should reflect upon is how dangerous it is for them to have Counsellours void of all Religion and conscience A man would thinke that Dudley could have no other interest but that of King Edward whom he ruled together with the Kingdome and yet we see how farre he went to fetch a contrary interest and by what wicked and dishonest wayes There is no interest remote or too farre from one of a large conscience if he be perswaded its more for his purpose then the present which he manageth Let Princes therefore countenance vertue and banish vice from their Courts and Counsells if they have any care of their owne interest and security But now let us see CHAP. XIII How necessary it is for a Statesman to be a man of honour and of his word and how great a difference there is betweene Policy and Craft 1 ALl Statesmen must be Gentlemen in their actions They must shunne as much meane wayes in themselves as they must seeme not to dislike of them in other meane persons whom they employe or entertaine as necessary and base instruments They must countenance spyes but scorne to be spyes themselves The maxime of a Statesman must be not to betray any man that confides in him for the food of Policy is information and knowledge of businesses which none will give that is afraid of being betrayed A man may be faithfull to his Prince without being a Traitour to his Subjects or any other and the favour of a Minister with his Prince must not be grounded upon information of other mens defects but upon his owne services strength of judgement and dexterity of managing affaires He who creeps into favour by telling tales and such meane wayes is rather a petty spy and informer then a wise Statesman I have knowne a great Minister of State who told a Gentleman that desired to be advised by him he would helpe him in what he could but warned him before hand that he would make use of any thing he heard for his Masters service and therefore bid him consider whether it was for his purpose to communicate unto him any secrecy This was honourable and plaine dealing he would serve his King and not betray others and yet this Minister of State is knowne to be as faithfull to his Master as ever Subject was to Prince having lost for his service as great an estate as any Subject in our parts of Christendome doth possesse 2 There are some persons that place the essence of a Polititian in being a Favourite of that faction which actually beareth sway they thinke it wisdome though not worth to change their friends as often as these doe their fortune and which is worse to become enemies or those who raised them from nothing because it s so necessary to humour the present power Such cut-purses and cut-throates are the infamy of Courts and the
lives in attempting an imagined liberty due to them by Luthers reformed Dutch Ghospel Whereby our Polititian may learne how ordinarily speaking Gods providence doth chastise wicked men by the same instruments they employ against the Church and Clergy in compassing their politick ends Luther was the occasion of the destruction of the Franconian Nobility which had made him an instrument to destroy the Clergy and dissuaded him from retiring into Bohemia promising they would protect him We may see also how dangerous it is not onely to Religion but to the interest of Princes that liberty which Protestants have of reading the Scripture without any obligation of conscience to submit their judgements in the interpretation thereof to any of their owne Churches When a Religion is made to comply with as many contrary humours and interests as Luthers was we must expect no other fruit of it but sedition and rebellion it is the apple of discord and the occasion of all mischiefs in Christian Commonwealths 6 From Germany this plague of Lutheranisme went into Swethland Swethland perverted Ioan Magnus in Pontif Psal lib. 6. by meanes of one Olaus Peters a Deacon and Luthers Scholler who in the yeare 1523. returning from Wittemberg to his own Countrey became acquainted with Laurence Andrewes Archdeacon of Stronghen an ambitious man the Bishop of that See dying Laurence Andrewes pretended and failed of the Bishoprick which was given to another farre inferiour to him in his owne opinion Olaus Peters tooke this occasion to make him a Lutheran and declare to him that all Christians were Priests by Baptisme and that there was no difference between a Priest and a Bishop but the revenues Whereupon they both declared their errour to Gustavus King of Swethland which he approved of as advantagious to that poore Crowne Therefore he declared to all his Subjects as a learned Scholler of Luthers teaching that Priesthood and Episcopacy were but formalities and privileges depending upon the Prince his will and favour and that it was his pleasure to take all their authority and lands into his owne hands he did not onely deprive the Bishops of their dignities and revenues but imprisoned them all because they opposed the change of Religion and their owne destruction Whereby we may perceive that poverty and coveteousnesse in a King and ambition in a Subject was the ground of Swethlands Reformation 7 In the yeare 1537. Iohn Bugenhagius who had beene a religious Priest put Christierne the Third King of Oenmarke in minde of what advantages his Neighbour Gustavus had made of Luther Doctrine and he upon the same grounds followed so meane an example deposing and imprisoning all the Bishops of his Kingdome who were but seven and made Iohn Bugenhagius Pope of his Northerne climat because he gave him authority to name seven Superintendents that succeded in the Bishops Seas but not in their ordination or revenues which were forfeited to the Crowne and was the greatest fault that the King found in Catholick-Religion It s great pitty that so many millions of soules doe perish through the coveteousnesse of those two Northerne Princes but the people may curse their Ancestors as much as their Kings who did not attempt the innovation of Religion before they felt the pulse of their Subjects consciences and perceived their soules to be as full of vice as their Countrey is of pitch and tarre and as disposed for heresy and hell as their woods are for fire Luther the Incendiary of all these Countries lived untill the yeare 1546. and died at Isleb where he was borne the 18. of February betweene two and three in the morning after that he had feasted himselfe and beene very merry that same night in the house of his death he pronounced these words to his Disciples Pray for our Lord God and his Ghospel that it may have good sucesse because the Council of Trent and the abominable Pope are great enemies Whether this blasphemy proceeded from Atheisme or drunknesse let Protestants determine my opinion is that Luther was both Atheist and Drunkard though Lutherans call him the Saint and Prophet of Germany Iustus Ionas de morte Lutheri notwithstanding that they acknowledge his last prayer to be the aforesaid blasphemy But now let us goe to the branches of his pretended Reformation SECT II. Of Anabaptisme 1 IN the yeare 1523. Nicholas Stork one of Luthers Schollers saw no reason why he might not invent a new Religion as well as his Master and at length resolved to goe to Switzerland where by counterfeiting revelations communicated to him by Saint Michael the Archangel he gained much credit amongst the simple people and persuaded them what he pleased confirming his mad fancies with texts of Scripture fondly applyed and by the Sermons of one Thomas Muntzer from both these Apostles the Sect of Anabaptists had its beginning their principall errour is grounded upon the words of our Saviour misinterpreted Whosoever will believe and be baptised shall be saved Therefore say they children ought not to be baptised before they come to yeares of discretion and capacity of beliefe or at least they ought to be rebaptised whereas it is cleare by the Scripture and not onely by the practise of the Church in all ages that children ought to be baptised seeing they are reasonable Creatures because Christ commanded his Disciples to baptise all Creatures but the continuall tradition is that whereby this errour hath beene and must be confuted which is the best explication of doubtfull texts of Scripture as Oecolampadius who formerly rejected Tradition as Roman superstition was forced to confesse Lindan in Dubit Prateol Methon Hist Anabap. lib. 5. when he disputed with the Anabaptists at this very time in Switzerland from whence they were banished by proclamation for their Doctrine against the obedience due to civill Magistrats and many other mad fancies whereby they practised bloody practises upon others and even upon themselves they were divided into many Countreys and Sects and in few yeares had more then 44. different Religions as Sebastian Francus doth testify in his history and is very credible because they are a people much given to believe dreames and to take fancies for revelations None is more dangerous then that assurance they pretend to have of themselves alone being Saints and the elect of God excluding all other men not onely from heaven but even from all right to lands or inheritances here upon earth according to the Doctrine of their booke which they intitle Restitution composed at Munster when their Prophets and Kings did domineere in that City Iohn Mathews gave himselfe out sometimes for Moyses sometimes metimes for Enoch and celebrated a Synod at Amsterdam breathed the spirit upon his twelve Apostles and sent them to preach his Ghospel to the world whereof some repented their madnesse others were punished and himselfe was killed at Munster his royall Seate 2 But after him succeeded for Prophet and King of the Anabaptists in the same City Iohn
threatned those of his owne Kingdome to the end they might subscribe to his wicked passion Act of Parl. an 1. Mariae c. 1. and because the Pope refused to doe the same Henry declared himselfe Pope in his owne Dominions and all others to be Traitors that refused to sweare his supremacy And because many refused to damne their soules by knowne perjury he tooke away their lives amongst others that suffered death for refusing the oath were two Cardinals three Bishops thirteen Abbots Priors David Camer Scot. lib. 4. c. 1. Monkes and Priests five hundred Archdeacons fourteen Canons threesoore Doctors fifty Dukes Marqueses and Earles with their children twelve Barons and Knights twenty nine Gentlemen three hundred thirty six Citizens a hundred thirty foure Women of quality a hundred and ten In this Ocean of innocent and noble bloud was laid the first stone and fundation of the English Protestant Church it s no mervaile that it thrived no better 2 Notwithstanding Henry the VIII wickednesse he never permitted any new Sects to be professed in England during his reigne though many crept in by Cranmers negligence and connivance In the latter end of his reigne he felt the remorse of his guilty conscience and did often resolve with himselfe to be reconciled to the Church of Rome but know not how it might be done with his honour which he preferred before that of God and the salvation of his soule even in his last sicknesse for sending to Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Wâ—…ester who was the onely man that durst speake truth to the King for his advice he exhortâ—d him to declare and recant his errour in Parliament if God would give him life if not to testifie repentance with his hand and seale assuring him that God would accept his good will if time were wanting to performe what he desired This was resolved upon but as soone as Gardiner departed he fell of from his pious resolution and within a short time dyed despairing of Gods mercy because quoth he I never spared man in my wrath nor woman in my lust His last words were All is lost The greatest Policy and Majesty upon earth comes at length to be nothing and repentance differed doth commonly end in despaire and damnation 3 To King Henry the VIII succeeded in his Kingdome and Headship of the Church his sonne Edward the VI. a child of 9. yeares old His tender age was a faire oportunity for heresy and policy to conspire against Catholick Religion which had never beene suppressed in England untill that time His Uncle and Protector Seamor declared himselfe a Zwinglian and established that Sect in England by Act of Parliament but could not exclude the name of Bishops that had beene so much reverenced in the Nation since it was converted to Christianity though they looked upon the Ordination both of Priests and Bishops as upon a superstition of Rome and badge of Antichrist Witnesse their translating in the Bible Ordination by imposition of hands as Saint Hierome D. Greg. Martin in his Discovery of the corruptions of holy Scriptures by English Sectaries chap. 6. and all the Fathers doe the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ordination by election and for the word Priest they alwayes translated Elder for Priesthood Eldership Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury who ought to have opposed these wicked practises did accommodate himselfe to the times and prevailing party in King Henryes time he writ a booke in defence of the reall presence and now in King Edwards time he writ another against it both which bookes Bishop Bonner of London produced to his face Fox pag. 1200. col 1. num 2. Persons cap. 7. num 32. when Cranmer and Ridley were sitting in judgement against him to deprive him of his Bishoprick 4 After that the Zwinglian Clergy of England had corrupted Scripture and wrested both words and sense to their owne hereticall and mad fancies they composed their book of Common prayer and instituted a new forme of making Priest and Bishops which was rather a declaration and protestation against holy Orders then a manifestation or the Ordainers power and intention or of the effects of that Sacrament It s a received principle amongst all men who knowe any thing that a Bishop or Priest cannot be validly consecrated without words involving the name or at least the particular power and authority of a Bishop or Priest in the English forme of Ordination the names are not mentioned and the power or authority is not so much as insinuated The power and authority of a Priest must involve power to make Christs Body and Blond really present as our English Protestant Doctors now confesse whether with or without Transubstantiation is not the controversy let them examine whether any such power be mentioned in their forme which is this Receive the holy Ghost English Rituall printed at London 1607. whofe sinnes thou doest forgive they are forgiven and whofe sinnes thou doest retaine they are retained and be thou a faithfull Dispenser of the Word of God and his holy Sacraments in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost To dispense ot minister â—he Sacraments come farre short of declaring power to consecrate the elements or make present Christs Body Deacons did minister and dispense the Body of Christ to the people in ancient times but were never thought to have power to consecrate or make present Christs Body and Bloud They have no reason to cite Santa Clara in their behalf Franc. à S. Clara in exposit paraphr Confess Anglic. artic 36. I knowe not his intention but I am sure his words favour not their Ordination and much lesse these of Innocent the IV. Sussiceret Ordinatori dicere sis Sacerdos vel alia aequipollentia Be thou a Priest or some words equivalent but they who blotted the word Priest out of Scripture never thought to make use of it in the forme of their Ordination and they who denyed the reall presence were farre from expressing in their forme of making Priests any power to consecrate or make present Christs Body and Bloud in the Sacrament and Sacrifice of the Altar 5 Their forme of making Bishops is no lesse deficient then the former The words are Take the holy Ghost and remember that thou stirre up the grace of God which is in thee by imposition of hands for God hath not given us the spirit of feare but of power love and sobernesse This advertisement of Saint Paul to Timothy after he had made him Bishop doth suppose 2. ad Tim. 1. and not give the Order of Episcopacy it is an admonition to exercise the function and not the ordination it selfe because it doth not declare in particular the name or authority of a Bishop Take the holy Ghost is said to Priests as well as to Bishops and the spirit of love power and sobernesse is communicated also by Priesthood Here is nothing peculiar to Episcopall Ordination But the truth is
possession of the Crowne of England he was engaged to many Princes that he would ease Catholicks by repealing the penall Lawes and without doubt had performed if he had not beene diverted from it by Cecil and other upstarts and Polititians whose interest was begunne and grounded upon heresy and the destruction of the ancient Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdome There was a treaty of peace betweene him and the King of Spaine whose Ambassadour in London had in his Instructions to insist upon liberty of conscience for Catholicks and the King was resolved to grant it rather then to breake of the treaty and told Cecil so much who undertooke to the King that he would make peace with the Spaniard without any obligation to favour Catholicks advising his Majesty to oblige his owne Subjects and not to permit them to owe so great an obligation to the King of Spaine or any other forreigne Prince Cecil therefore deales with an Italian Polititian by whom the Spanish Ambassadour was to by advised in all his negotiation and tells him that King Iames and himselfe also were as willing to grant liberty of conscience to Catholicks as the Catholick King was earnest in demanding it because it was not onely just but convenient for the State Catholicks being the fittest instruments to oppose Puritanisme which the King so much did feare and hate therefore they should have liberty of conscience but it was not convenient or possible to article concerning any such thing because the Kingdome would be offended and the Subjects would owe the favour to the King of Spaine not to their owne who was resolved within a little time to repeale all penall Lawes Whether the Italian believed Cecil I Knowe not but its certaine that these two Polititians resolved no mention should be made of Religion in the articles notwithstanding King Iames being of a gracious disposition told Cecil he would not persecute for conscience the Catholicks and I believe would have beene very moderate if Cecil had not invented the Gun-pouder treason plot That Cecil was the contriver or at least the fomenter of it was testified by one of his owne domestick Gentlemen who advertised a certaine Catholick his friend by name Master Buck two moneths before of a wicked designe his Master had against Catholicks one Master Tresham and another Catholick who were thought to have beene Cecils instruments in all this businesse having accesse to him even at midnight were sent to the Tower and never seene afterwards least they should tell tales and it s very certain that Percy and Catesby might have beene taken alive when they were killed but Cecil knew full well that these two unfortunate Gentlemen would have related the story lesse to his owne advantage then himselfe caused it to be published therefore they were dispatched when they might have beene made prisoners having no other weapons offensive or defensive but their swords 5 This wicked plot of Cecil made the Catholicks so odious that it was not in the Kings power to doe them his intended favour yet whether it was that he suspected Cecils knavery or that he would not have the crime of few men attributed to their Religion and to the multitude he declared he innocency of both and did not persecute Catholicks as much as Protestants desired yet the barrells wherein the pouder was are kept as reliques and were often shewed to the King and his posterity that they might not entertaine the least thought of clemency towards Catholick Religion There is not an ignorant Minister or Tub-preacher who doth not when all other matter failes remit his Auditors to the Gun-pouder treason and describe these tubs very pathetically the onely reliques thought fit by them to be kept in memory They might have kept other monuments of farre more barbarous savage cruelty whereunto none but themselves can lay claime practised by the French and Scotch Hugonots so horridly foule and abominable not onely to the thoughts but eyes of men that it is a shame to Christianity to see it degenerate by heresy to more ugly enormous outrages then ever humane nature could be transported into by the fury of Paganisme I forbeare the bloudy practises of England in Queene Elizabeth time as not so barbarous in appearance though more wicked in substance as being exhibited by publick Magistrates under the colour of Law and pretext of peace of the Land the starving and racking of so many innocent worthy learned persons the tearing out of hearts and bowels in the publike view upon suborned testimonies of base vagabond perjured catchpoules hired to sweare what they and their hirers knew to be false and all the world sawe to be voyd of all signes of truth But to returne to Cecil the mischiefe contrived by him was imputed to men that had no more hand in the plot then to disswade their penitents from it in confession the seale whereof is so sacred that it cannot be broken which obligation of secrecy is of greater aduantage to prevent treason then if it were lawfull to reveale the mischiefe imparted in that Sacrament because none will confesse a treason that he thinks may be revealed and by acquainting his Confessour with treacherous purposes he may be disswaded from them but not absolved unlesse he doth promise to desist and heartily repent It was foretold to Cecil that the hand of God would fall heavily upon him and that he should dye in a ditch and be burried in a dunghill a thing very unlikely to happen all circumstances considered and yet it happened for being jealous of my Lord Henry Howards getting into the Kings favour Cecil made such hast from the Bath to London notwithstanding a troublesome disease that going to ease himselfe in a ditch there he dyed and was afterwards burried in a Chappell that himselfe had built upon a dunghill And thus a man raised from durt came to be dissolved into his owne element and to rest in his native soile Not onely Catholicks but Protestants have reason To curse the memory of this man and his gun-pouder plot for if Catholicks had beene countenanced as King Iames intended Puritans and other Sectaries would never have had the power to bring his Sonnes head to the block and the Nation to so much bloudshead Let Polititians say what they please there is no greater support of Monarchy then Catholick Religion 6 Though in King Iames his time Religion was squared to his Majesties interest and inclination but alwayes with some regard to that which had beene formerly professed in Queene Elizabeths dayes for feare of causing a distemper by a suddaine alteration yet in King Charles his reigne the Church of England came to that perfection that it professed no Religion at all Protestants had beene so shamefully beaten from all their negative articles and lurking holes by Catholick Divines that they were forced to doe what petty Princes are accustomed when they are oppressed and overpowred by great Monarchs confining with their Estates now they side with
its greatest height and most part of the English Protestant Doctors being of no Religion at all it was time for Gods vengeance to fall upon their Church which in King Charles his reigne was but a fancy of Christianity indifferent for all heresies and in that sense onely Catholick or universall it was an â—lla podrida of all errours a politick corporation of University men that pretended a neutrality of Religion by applying absurdly their distinction of fundamentall and not fundamentall articles of Faith Finally it was a phantasma or Ghost of Reformation that a distance seemed nothing but when men drew neare and examined its principles it was found to be nothing but weake policy and obstinate heresy almost degenerated into manifest Atheisme SECT IX Of the Kirk of Scotland 1 OF all Princes none ought to be more lamented for the heresy they have fallen into then the Kings of Scotland others perverted their Subjects by policy persecution and ill example but the Subjects of Scotland persecuted their Soveraignes for Catholick Religion and made their young King sweare to maintaine heresy before he had discretion to know what they imposed upon him and his posterity King Iames the V. of Scotland was so zealous a Catholick that in the yeare 1527. he commanded a kinsman of his owne Pathrick Hamilton by name to be burnt in Saint Andrews for his obstinacy and heresy And in the yeare 1533. called a Parliament Leslaus lib. 9. wherein he declared his resolution to live and dye in the Roman Catholick Faith and obedience to the Sea Apostolick as all his Ancestours had done since Christianity was professed in that Kingdome The three States or Scotland swore the same Acts of Parliament were made against all novelties in Religion and to prevent them it was commanded that none of the ignorant and vulgar sort should read the Scripture falsely translated into English but that all should be contented to heare the Word of God from the mouth of their Doctors and Pastors according to the institution of Christ and the continuall practise of his Church 2 In the yeare 1539. a Canon regular two Dominicans one Franciscan and some seculars were burnt for obstinate Hereticks some recanted their errours others were banished But George Buchanan a Franciscan Apostata Buchan lib. 14. escaped out of prison as himselfe relates though he conceales the cause of his imprisonment which was not onely for heresy but for Iudaisme and celebrating the Jewish ceremony of eating a Paschall Lambe with great devotion in Lent This is that mercenary knave who being bribed by Iames Steward the bastard writ so basely and falsely of that incomparable Queene Mary Steward and recounts so many fables and palpable lyes in the history of his owne Nation that the very truths are not believed Beza epist Theol. 78. Beza the Heretick calls him an excellent and most worthy man and Genebrardus graceth him with the title of an Atheisticall Poet and a drunken Buffon Basil Dorc. lib. 2. King Iames had so good an opinion of him that in his instructions to Prince Henry he forbid him the perusall of Buchanan and Knoxes writings 3 Henry the VIII of England jealous to see his Nephew Iames the V. so addicted to France that after the death of Magdalen eldest daughter to Francis King of France his first wife he tooke for his second the Duke of Guises sister desired the said Iames King of Scots to give him a meeting at York The Nobility and Clergy of Scotland opposed this conference as dangerous both to the State and Religion bringing to their Kings memory how Iames the I. his Ancestour had beene kept prisoner in England upon such an other occasion as also how Henry the VIII who had beene perfidious to God and the Church was not to be trusted Hereupon Henry declares warre against Scotland and Iames the V. raises an Army to oppose and prevent Henry by making England the Seate of the warre But because he named a Favorite of his owne to command the Army under himselfe that was not gratefull to the Nobility and people they would not obey nor concurre with their Soveraigne according to their duty This put the King into a feaver whereof he dyed the 13. of December 1542. in the 32. yeare of his age a most gallant and active Prince whole greatest fault and ruine was not to distinguish betweene the duty and the humour of his Subjects a wise Prince must so contrive things that the one be seconded by the other for if they encounter it s twenty to one but the humour of a multitude will prevaile against the duty they owe to their Soveraigne who must humour his people if he will be obeyed and goe their pace if he will be served his owne way but let him endeavour to make it appeare that he hath away of his owne and that he is not at the command of others who are hated or not regarded by those that must doe his businesse when Subjects imagine that they are not governed by their Prince but by his Favorites they often breake out into open rebellion especially if the Favorites seeme to be too imperious and uncivill It were to be wished that the people did accommodate themselves to the humour or their Prince and his Councellours and not impossible if the Prince will choose persons of honour and integrity to assist him that confound not their Masters interest with their owne ambition and passions Whether the King of Scots his Favorite was guilty of any such crime I knowe not but his case hath demonstrated to posterity that nothing can be more fatall to a Prince then to strive against the humour of his Subjects for a Favorite whose fidelities they suspect or contemne his person and abilities And if Kings will thinke it concerns their honour not to part with hated or contemned Favorits because thereby they seeme to condemne their owne choice and judgements let them consider whether it be more for their purpose to be deprived of their Kingdomes or to acknowledge that they are men and may be mistaken in choosing Councellors and Privados Yet if the Councellors grew odious since they sate at the helme the case is altered and the Prince his choice or judgement cannot be censured for removing from the management of affaires persons whose incapacity was not knowne to him before he applyed them to the government of the Commonwealth 4 But in case the unfitnesse of a Favorite for governing great affaires should be so evident that the ill successe must be attributed rather to his want of wisdome and conduct then to fortune if the Prince be obstinate in his resolution of not parting with him he must runne the hazard of being censured not onely void of judgement in his choice but also incorrigible in his errours his first choice may be excused by affection to the person or want of experience his persisting in that choice notwithstanding the continuall miscarriage of businesses must be
it is more easy for an Archbishop of Canterbury or any other in the Realme to make ill use of his supreme spirituall jurisdiction in England then it is for the Pope at so great a distance and with so little acquaintance Experience doth demonstrate that the Popes spirituall jurisdiction over all Christendome is not so dangerous as Protestant Lawes and petty Preachers doe pretend Histories doe testify that Popes have restored twenty Kings for one that they are said to depose neither did they ever pretend to depose any King untill his owne Subjects were weary of his tyrannicall government or all the world scandalized at his wicked heresies and in those very cases the Popes never tooke the Kingdome to themselves an evident argument that Religion not interest moved them to take so rigourous wayes whether warrantable or not let others dispute I cannot Yet this much I can assure Protestant Princes that Popes have exhorted their Subjects to obedience and patience when they were most persecuted In case any of his Ministers should be misinformed indiscrete or exceed his commission that fault cannot be attributed to his Master nor to the Religion of Catholick Subjects but rather to the ignorance of Catholick Tenets and of Canonicall Doctrine which commands Subjects to obey though their Soveraignes be not of their owne Religion 3 Kings and Princes by denying obedience to the Pope teach their Subjects to rebell against themselves and doe dispense with oath of alleageance The ground of fidelity and obedience due to hereditary Soveraignes is a constant tradition that he who actually resignes is lawfull successour to one whose right and jurisdiction was undoubtedly acknowledged and indeed there cannot be a more rationall and secure ground of obedience then tradition and a continuall succession of lawfull witnesses from one age to another Writings may be counterfeited Tradition cannot because its impossible to stop so many mouthes as deliver it to posterity or to contradict the testimony of whole Provinces and Nations This is the reason why Hereticks cannot gainesay the tradition of the Popes supremacy though they deny the supremacy it selfe and the truth of that Doctrine yet they are not so madly impudent as to deny what is evident to all Christendome to wit that there was a constant tradition when Luther revolted from the Church that the Bishop of Rome is Christs Vicar upon earth They onely pretend that this tradition is not a sufficient ground to oblige men to believe what it delivered or to acknowledge the Popes supremacy If it be not how can the tradition of one onely Nation be a sufficient ground to oblige Subjects to believe that their Soveraigne is lawfull King of France or Spaine or that they are bound in conscience to obey him There is not any King or Prince in Europe that hath so universall and constant a tradition for his temporall soveraignty as the Bishop of Rome hath to be Saint Peters lawfull successour and of Saint Peters being head of the Church under Christ by divine institution Pasce oves meas Feed my sheepe Joan. 21. and many other texts of Scripture have never beene otherwise understood in the Church by any but by declared Hereticks whose contradicting the tradition and ancient sense of Gods Word can as little prejudice the Popes right and supremacy as a declared Rebell can prejudice his Soveraigns right by calling in question his discent or royall authority When Saint Peters chaire is shaken by Protestant Princes their owne thrones must fall because it is not onely the fundation of the Catholick Church but the support of Christian Monarchy 4 Here I cannot omit to advertise my Reader what poore shifts some of the most learned Protestants are brought to they renew that so often and solidly refuted errour of making the Pope Patriarch onely of the West by misapplying the words of the Nicen Councell Baron an 325. Sirmondus Guther Card. Perron my râ—sp ad Object Reg. Brit. lib. 1 c. 32. 33. and concealing the true translation of the Canon as every man may see in the Authors cited in the margen The title of Patriarch of the West doth no more exclude the Popes supreme dignity of head of the Church under Christ then the title of Earle of Flanders doth exclude that of King of Spaine If the Bishops of Rome were not universall Patriarchs but Patriarchs onely of the West why did Saint Victor Pope in the second age of Christianity excommunicate all the Churches of Asia Euseb 5. hist 24. cap. 25. Spond 198. upon the difference of celebrating Easter for not accommodating themselves to the Roman Sea And though Saint Iretaeus did not approve of so great severity yet neither he nor any other called in question his authority They are also pleased to make the Pope Speaker in the generall Councells but not President they allowe him the place of first Bishop and call him exordium unitatis with Saint Cyprian but by no meanes will they grant him the title of infallible and supreme Pastor These are but weake and pittifull shifts whereunto Protestants are driven by the evidence of Councells Fathers Tradition and Catholick arguments contrary to the Tenets and Doctrine of their brethren of the late Church of England If the Pope be exordium unitatis he must be infallible in deciding the controversy proposed otherwise he will be exordium divisionis because no learned persons will submit their judgements in matters of Faith to a Judge that may be mistaken they will be as farre from his sentence and thoughts as from any other and the unity of Faith whereof Saint Cyprian speakes consists more in an unity of thoughts of judgements then of speech or exteriour acquiescence Such a dumb unity of Faith hath its beginning from Policy not Religion 5 They excuse themselves from the guilt and crime of Schisme as ridiculously as they impugne the Popes supremacy They accuse us Catholicks for the fault themselves committed because forsooth they left not our communion untill we thrust them out of doores It may be as well said that the Judge and not the thiefe is the malefactour because the Judge pronounced sentence against the thiefe The Roman Catholick Church had no more part in the Schisme of England then to declare Henry the VIII and Queene Elizabeth Schismaticks and Hereticks They committed the crime and the Pope pronounced the sentence Therefore the Roman Church or Court is guilty of Schisme is an excellent Protestant consequence But such fopperies we must expect from obstinate Hereticks that with a perverse will oppose no lesse their owne understandings then Catholick verities The Pope say they imposed new articles of Faith upon their tender consciences he made a new Creed and declared it was necessary to believe the same Therefore he was cause of the Schisme The same argument that the Arrians made against the Councell of Nice and Saint Athanasius his Creed doe these Hereticks now object against the Councell of Trent and Pope
have evidence that his Law or Statute doth not contradict the Law of God his legislative power must be subordinate to Christian Religion Henry the VIII Edward the VI. and Queene Elizabeths penall Statutes are evidently against the Law of God and Christian Religion if we may credit antiquity and stick to the Faith and practise of the Church and Catholick Princes that went before them not onely in England but in all other Christian Kingdomes No persons living have any other evidence for the Law of God and Catholick Religion but the test mony of the immediatly precedent age confirmed with supernaturall signes all former ages speake to us by the mouth of the last with which we conversed we must cake their word for all the rest and for the sense as well as for the letter of Scripture The 14. age delivered to the 15. the Roman Catholick Faith which we now professe assuring that it was the true sense of Scripture which they had learned from the 13. age and so forth to the Apostles What evidence had Henry the VIII or his daughter Queen Elizabeth to oppose against the testimony of all former ages confirmed with so many miracles and to make Statutes against the knowne and practised Law of God and Christianity His luxury and his daughters bastardy are the onely evidence which Protestants can produce for the ground of penall Lawes against the Popes supremacy and other points of the Roman Catholick Religion an excellent foundation of Protestant Lawes Justice and Judicature 3 To pronounce sentence of death losse of goods or banishment against persons without any proose is rather tyranny then injustice The greatest crimes even that of treason require at least one lawfull witnesse let Protestant produce but one lawfull witnesse against the Religion of Catholicks and their sense of Scripture and we will not murmure against their penall Lawes and rigourous proceedings Antiquity affords them none because though in divers ages some odde men did testify sometimes one errour of theirs sometimes another they were in those very times contradicted by the whole Catholick Church and declared infamous Impostours and Hereticks In this present age no Protestants can be lawfull witnesses for their owne Religion or against ours because their testimony cannot be valid against so constant and universall a tradition as we Catholicks have for our Doctrine and sense of Scripture It s as ridiculous and unjust in a Judge to pronounce sentence against Roman Catholicks for their Religion upon the evidence and testimony of Protestancy as if he had in open Court condemned men to forfeit their estates and ancient inheritance upon the word of a mad fellow that produceth no other evidence to confirme his claime but interiour motions of the spirit of coveteousnesse and ambition or some obscure text of the Law appliable to all cases and subjects for all the Protestant evidence is reduced to the private spirit and the pretended clearnesse of Scripture If this be not to destroy the foundation of Justice and the forme of Judicature Protestants have a different way of proceeding from all other Nations and have altered the stile of naturall reason humane nature and the practice of all antiquity 4 They cannot excuse their persecution against Catholicks with the example of Christian Emperours and Kings that both for zeale of Religion and humane Policy to avoid the danger of rebellion made Lawes and Statutes against Hereticks and Innovatours of the ancient Faith and sense of Scripture which descended to them by tradition from the Apostles Protestants take the quite contrary way they make Lawes and Statutes against the ancient Religion and knowne sense of Gods Word and persecute Catholicks for professing it whereas their Predecessours Emperours and Kings punished new Religions and Novelists This last was lawfull in secular Princes but the practise of Protestants is unjust and wicked because it destroyes Justice and the true Religion confirmed by the publike testimony and practise of the Christian world since the Apostles time to this present If the Roman Catholick Religion were not the true Apostolicall Faith but as new as Protestants pretend how is it possible that in history there should be no mention made of any person that suffered as an Heretick for broaching or maintaining any one point which we now professe If any Doctrine of ours were judged an heresy or a novelty by antiquity without doubt we had not all escaped the rigour of penall Lawes made against Hereticks and Novelists I am sure Protestants cannot brag nor say so much for their owne Doctrine many if not all the points whereof have beene condemned as heresy by the Church in ancient times and punished as novelties by Christian Kings and Emperours which was the onely reason that moved the first English Protestants to cause the young child Edward the VI. when he knew not what he did to repeale all the Lawes and Statutes that any Christian King of England and the Kingdome had made against Hereticks being convinced that themselves and not Catholicks were comprehended in that number All who suffered persecution or death for any point of the Roman Religion were looked upon by the Catholick Church in all ages as glorious Confessours and renowned Martyrs Amongst the most pretious jewells of the Easterne Church were accompted such as were put to death for defending the worship of Images against the Iconuclasts Baron an 723. Conc. Nicaen 2. Act. 5. who were the first that persecuted Christians for that Doctrine at the instance of one Serantapicus a Magician and a Jew that promised to Gizedo Prince of the Saracens he should live 30. yeares if he would command all Images to be taken away and not worshipped in his Dominions by the Catholicks But Gizedo dying within a yeare and a halfe his sonne Vlidus condemned the Jew to death as a perfidious lmpostour and the Images were worshipt as formerly untill three yeares afterwards Leo Isaurus the heretick Emperour at the instance also of Jewes Concil Nicaen 2. Baron an 726. raised that most terrible persecution against the Catholick Church for practising so pious a custome which had continued amongst Christians without the least danger of idolatry since the time of the Apostles to that present and t will not be interrupted untill the day of judgement notâ—ithstanding the clamours endeavours and vaine pretended feares of Protestant zealots in behalfe of Serantapicus their Patriarch and his Hebrew tribe their loving brethren 5 Their persecution against Catholicks can be no more excused by the proceedings of the Spanish and Italian Inquisition Of the Inquisition then their penall Statutes have beene by the Lawes of ancient Kings and Emperours against Hereticks 1. Because the Inquisition proceeds according to the rules and forme of Justice none is declared an Heretick or guilty by a new Law or oath made onely to the end that by them men may be intrapped both in soule body and estate it was no crime in England to be a Catholick before
his servants in a litter to shunne the fury of the Army was taken and hanged In Westmeath Master Gauley a Gentleman of a good estate having a protection and shewing it hoping thereby to save his goods lost his life having his protection laid on his brest was shot through it to try whether it was proofe Master Thomas Talbot a Gentleman of 90. yeares of age and a great serviture in Queene Elizabeths warres in Ireland having a protection also was murthered Seven or eight hundred women and children ploughmen and labourers were burned and murthered in a day in the Kings land a tract within seven miles or Dublin where neither murther nor pillage had beene committed on the Protestants Whensoever the Army went abroad the poore Countrey people did betake themselves to the firres where the Protestant Officers did besiege them and set the firres on fire such as shunned and escaped that element were killed by the besieging Army and this they termed a â—unting sporting thenselves with the bloud of innocents These barbarous and savage cruelties were ordinary not onely neare Dublin but in all other parts of the Kingdome wheresoever the Protestants were and may be read in divers Remonstrances and Relations published in the beginning of the late troubles But why doe we detaine our selves in particulars when all the world seeth how the whole Irish Nation is murthered by the Transplantation into Conaght and by transporting them into the plantations of America Not content to starve them in those places Protestants are resolved also to damne them forcing them to an oath of abjuration against their consciences and the publick Faith given not onely by printed Declarations in the name of the English Parliament to the Irish Catholicks an 1649 and 1652. That the oath of abjuration shall not be administred to any in Ireland but also by an expresse article granted in a Treaty to the Catholicks of Ireland at Kilkenny the 12. of May 1652. in confidence whereof and of much more to the same effect the Irish submitted and laid downe their armes being assured that they should enjoy the freedome and liberty of their consciences and not be molested for not going to Church or any Protestant worship of God who in due time will comfort his people confound his enemies destroy Protestancy the murtherer of soules and Catholick Nations Doe not divers in these very times prove their constant affection to the Parliament by shewing their names subscribed to this cruell Petition Doth not the Mayor who then was of Londonderry an Englishman and a Protestant with many others testify that there was not a drop of English bloud drawne in the North of Ireland where the warre begunne untill the daughter of O Hara an Irish Lord was most barbarously murthered by Protestants But whosoever desires to be satisfied in this particular of Ireland let him read amongst all others the printed Remonstrance of the Irish Confederate Catholicks delivered by their Commissioners the Lord Viscount Preston and Sir Robert Talbot the 17. of March 1642. to his Majesties Commissioners at Trim and there he will see at large how the Catholicks desired that the murthers on both sides might be punished and how they were forced to take armes by the wicked practises of Sir Willium Persons Sir Charles Coote and other Protestants who then governed that Kingdome the best newes you could give the Councell at Dublin was that such a Gentleman or Nobleman had retired for feare of being murthered from his house this was evidence enough to declare him a Rebell and confiscate his estate their phrase was They had another estate to divide amongst themselves and their friends and seemed to rejoyce more at the taking armes of one estated man then if all the Kingdome had laid downe armes and submitted Whatsoever men may say in passion of the Irish warre its evident that Protestancy had a greater influence upon it then the Roman Catholick Religion and therefore ought not to be made the preface or pretext or persecution or oathes of abjuration 7 By what hath beene said in this Chapter it appeareth that penall Lawes and Oathes against the Catholick Roman Religion destroy the ground of Justice and the forme of Judicature because the witnesses have no evidence for their testimony the Judges not any for their sentence and the Legislatour as little for the Law They are blocks laid in the way for Catholicks to stumble at and occasions of scandall whereby they must damne their soules or loose their livelyhood How is it possible that any Christian men can drive others into such streights and necessities What Judge can finde in his heart to condemne a man to death and losse of goods because he will not of his owne accord forfeit his share of happinesse in the other life But let them who pronounce sentences against Catholicks for conscience remember that a day will come when themselves must stand at the barre and heare their dreadfull doome without hopes of reprivall Gods Justice hath fallen visibly upon some of them even in this world to the astonishment of many and repentance of very few The memory of Justice Glanviles strange wound and death by an iuvisible hand is yet fresh in Lincolne where in the end of Queene Elizabeths reigne he condemned two Priests Sprat and Hunt for refusing the oath of supremacy and not long after was suddenly strucken from his horse and killed by such another blowe as we read of Iulian the Apostata Spondanus an 1579. Cambden in his Annals relates the death of Drury but not the occasion Drury Lord Deputy of Ireland was cited to appeare before the throne of Gods judgement within the space of 15. dayes by the venerable Bishop and Marly Fr. Pathrike Ochely of the order of Saint Francis whom he commanded to be put to death for not taking the oath of supremacy and so it happened for the 14. day Drury dyed of so intolerable a disease that he cryed aloud he was tormented with all the paines of hell 8 Many other remarkable things might be set downe for the comfort of Catholicks and terrour of their persecutours these may suffise to prove that God doth not approve of penall Statutes and oathes against the Roman Catholick Religion and that the sword of divine Justice will alwayes hang over the English Nation untill they modell their Lawes to the Law of God nature and equity And though weake and coveteous Polititians be of a contrary opinion I am confident they will in time learne by experience that malicious policy must not give the Law to divine Providence nor their injustice prevaile against Gods mercies to whose divine Majesty we Catholicks continuall pray for the conversion of our most cruell persecutors and hope they will be reduced to the way of reason and salvation sooner then they deserve But in case the Lord be pleased to permit them carry on their barbarous persecution Catholicks must not despaire but assure themselves that then they are most
out of the Netherlands The prudent King not doubting that to grant this was to betray himselfe and his posterity and bestowe his inheritance upon rebells declared that he would give as little encouragement to new Religions as Charles the V. his Father Whereupon Henry Bredenrod Lewis of Nassau Orange his brother and others of the Nobility headed the Hereticks who profaned Churches sackt Monasteries abused the Clergy and Religious and trampled under their feet the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar Lind. de fug idol Neare Ruremond they were cutting in pieces Saint Authonies image and going to burne it on a suddaine all were toucht with wild fire and dyed the next day They tooke Antwerpe then Orange declared himselfe for them and with all Governour of that famous and rich City 2 Before the Hereticks had committed these outrages they made a procession in Brussells wherein every one carried a medall hanging upon his brest with King Philips image on the one side and on the other two hands joyned with a beggars wallet with this motto Fidi Regi usque ad bisaccium In this manner they presented themselves to Margaret of Parma that then governed the Low Countries for her Brother Surius in Comment Schardius in reb gest sub Maximil Belear lib. 30. alij at which sight when her Highnesse seemed to be frighted the Earle of Barlamont a zealous Catholick told her that nothing was to be feared from such Geuses which is a word of contempt in Walloun and signifies Vagabond Beggars This was the occasion whereby the Hereticks of the Netherlands came to have so honourable a denomination as their brethren the Hugonots in France The Catholicks to be discerned from Hereticks or Geuses wore also medalls about their necks or tyed to their beads with the Image of Christ our Saviour on the one side and on the other his blessed Mother If Hereticks thought it was a profession of fidelity and devotion in themselves to their King to weare and worship his image I see no reason why they should finde fault with Catholicks for wearing medalls or worshipping the images of Christ his Mother and Saints I am sure we meane better to God in doing it then they did to their King when they were called Geuses The King of Spaine was not jealous that they would rebell with his image or make it King there was no danger of such a foppery It s a foppery and madnesse in Hereticks to imagine that God is jealous of Catholicks worshipping his owne or his servants images and as for the pretended danger of Idolatry it is no greater then that which the Geuses did incurre of setting up their medalls for their King or Earle of Flanders The difference betweene our medalls and theirs is that ours is a profession of love respect and devotion which we beare to God and his Saints because they are his servants theirs was a pretext of treachery and rebellion against their Soveraigne who was as farre from their hearts and effections as his image was neare their brests 3 There was never any Prince that did more to humour his Subjects then Philip the Second did for his in the Low Countries First he removed from thence the Duke of Alba because he was thought to be over severe and sent in his place Requesens one of a mild disposition After whose death he was content to confirme the Governours themselves had chosen untill he was advertised that the first act of their government was a league made against the Spaniards at the instance of Orange whose ambition could be satisfied with nothing but the whole Countrey at his owne disposall to which end he caused himselfe to be named Admiral of the Sea turned Don Iohn of Austria out of the Countrey had Brabant joyned to his government of Holland and Zealand imprisoned the Duke of Arschor and two Bishops because they sent for Mathias the Archduke who being arrived was but a cifer Orange being named his Vicar did governe all and obtained liberty of conscience for the Hereticks in all the 17. Provinces that thereby his friends and faction might encrease after Mathias his departure he sends for the Duke of Anjou a cifer also but thinking by his meanes to engage France in the quarrell was content to let him have the title of Governour and Master keeping all the power in his owne hands 4 All those things were done by Orange with that ordinary and specious pretext of rebellion the liberty of the Subject and of conscience whereby many Catholicks were deceived and joyned with him and his Hereticks But they perceiving at lengthy that nothing would satisfy Orange and that he aymed at making himselfe Master of his Confederats and to that end promoted heresy thereby to engage the people more against their Catholick King endeare them to himselfe and that many insolences were committed by the Geuses and countenanced by their Protector Orange Hannonia Artois and some other Provinces declared against him and his ambitious hereticall proceedings The King also seeing that Orange would be contented with no lesse then the propriety and dominion of all the Low Countries promised great rewards by proclamation to any person that would kill him Whereupon in the yeare 1584. this Rebell was sent to the other world by one Gerard a Burgundian If he had lived longer perhaps the United Provinces had beene a Kingdome not a Commonwealth for its certaine his designe and desire was not to make them a free State though he freed them from their obedience to the King of Spaine And albeit by his policy he made them cast of one yoke he oppressed them with another farre more intolerable that is with heresy whereby they became slaves to the Devill and rebells against God and the Church Thus we see how the multitude hath beene misled by one politick head that concealed his ambition with the zeale of a new Religion and the ancient liberties of his Nation SECT VI. Of the Protestant Church of England in King Edward the VI. his time 1 IT s now time to drawe homeward and examine whether the Protestant Church of England be also a branch of Policy That luxury and covetcousnesse was the occasion of denying the Popes jurisdiction and supremacy is evident by our Chronicles in the life of Henry the VIII who being weary of Queene Catharine of Spaine and despairing or issue male by her as also enamoured of Anne Bullen desired the Pope to declare null a marriage that no person living called in question for the space of 20. yeares but now forsooth it was against Seripture because Saint Iohn Baptist told Herod that it was not lawfull for him to keepe his brothers wife in the lifetime of his brother and himselfe being also married If Prince Arthur were living the text had made as much for Henry the VIII as for Herods brother Yet King Henryes tender conscience could not be quiet untill Anne Bullen were Queene of England therefore he bribed Universities abroad and